


Of Duty, Among the Stars

by FireEye



Category: Final Fantasy Tactics
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 11:52:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12887286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireEye/pseuds/FireEye
Summary: Ramza and Ovelia share a quiet moment between battlefields.





	Of Duty, Among the Stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Yamadori](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yamadori/gifts).



Once, Ramza’s worldview had been turned upside down.  It seemed like so long ago, and not very long ago at all.

His father had impressed within him a certain ideal.  And when that ideal clashed with the world outside the castle walls, the illusion – and the memory of his father’s ideal – cracked within him.  The honor of nobility became little more than a childhood fairy tale.

And here, the heir to the Throne of Ivalice stood beside him – flesh and blood as any girl who walked the earth.  Her birthright, God-granted, to lead the nobility and common born to invoke Paradise.

And now he wasn’t sure, standing in her presence, that it _is_ a fairy tale.

Ovelia’s kindness was a cup that overflowed and was never empty.  She awoke courage in every noble heart that she touched, and those who met her couldn’t but fight for her purity of spirit.  And when they died, her heart cried out in loss.

Ovelia was everything nobility was _supposed_ to be, but they had somehow lost along the way.

Realizing he was there at last, she turned her shy smile on him.  Ramza bowed; it was all he could do.  His mouth had gone dry, and his words turned to dust.

“I was just now thinking of you,” she said, “and here it is you are.”

The night was young.  The veranda was theirs alone.

Agrias would no doubt be lurking somewhere nearby.

For the best, Ramza reminded himself, scratching his fingers through his hair.

“I am honored,” the word was strange in his mouth.  So gently soft, where it had so recently been sharp-edged.

“I wanted to thank you,” Ovelia said.  “Because of you, I have seen the world beyond the monastery walls.”

Her gaze wandered over the balcony, down into the town below.

“I do not think I will be allowed such freedom again.”

Ramza raised his eyes to the stars above.

“If it pleased Your Highness,” he almost choked to speak the words out loud, but the thought was begun, and it wouldn’t do to lie, “I would take you far away, to whatever freedom your heart desires.”

“Even to the stars?”

When he looked down again, she was staring at him.  It felt as though she pulled the promise from him, but it came from the heart.  “Even to the stars.”

“And if I can stop the fighting?”

Ramza felt the wind knocked out of him.  His expression must have said it all, because Ovelia sighed and – for a moment – looked away.

And then, stepping forward, she slid her arms around him.  Dumbfounded, Ramza raised his arms, hesitant, to return the embrace; for no more than an instant, he felt the peace she promised, to the very core of his being.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

He bowed as she took her leave.

He didn’t know what else to do.

Once, Ramza’s worldview had been turned upside down.  This night, he again found himself on tumultuous ground.

But the princess hadn’t restored his faith in the nobility.

Ovelia had restored his faith in himself.

**Author's Note:**

> A little FFT love your way. Happy Yuletide. :)


End file.
